Man fined for driving car from passenger seat!

The man was also hit with 100 hours of unpaid work, 10 days rehabilitation and £1,800 in costs.

An Indian origin motorist, who put his Tesla on autopilot and hopped onto the passenger seat on a congested road in England, has been banned from driving for 18 months.Bhavesh Patel, 39, was filmed by another driver with his hands behind his head as his car sped at 40mph last year on 21 May, according to reports in Daily Mail.

Patel pleaded guilty of dangerous driving at St Albans Crown Court on Friday, 20 April, and admitted he had been 'silly' and just 'unlucky one who got caught'.

The court heard that just before 8:00pm on May 21 last year, Patel was driving his wife's white Tesla S 60 along the northbound carriageway of the M1 near Hemel Hempstead. The traffic was heavy due to congestion when Patel switched on to autopilot function before moving across to the passenger seat, leaving the steering wheel and foot controls unmanned.

Investigating officer PC Kirk Caldicutt said Patel to be 'grossly irresponsible' as his behaviour could have 'ended in tragedy'. Caldicutt said, "He not only endangered his own life but the lives of other innocent people using the motorway on that day. I want to stress that they are in no way a substitute for a competent motorist in the driving seat who can react appropriately to the road ahead."


The video footage of Patel's driving went viral and police sent Notice of Intended Prosecution at Patel's home. Patel was also hit with 100 hours of unpaid work, 10 days rehabilitation and £1,800 in costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Tesla's autopilot system has been held responsible for several deadly crashes and near misses. Tesla admitted a vehicle involved in a fatal California crash was operating on autopilot.

Further, Apple engineer Walter Huang, 38, was killed on March 23 while driving his Tesla X SUV. It is reported that his hands had been off the steering wheel for six seconds before the crash.